[Does becoming a mother make you ill?-Frequency of mental health diagnoses in postpartum mothers compared to childless women based on BARMER billing data].

Abstract

Introduction: Around 700,000 children are born in Germany every year. Many mothers are under great pressure and strain due to prevailing role models and social expectations. Up to 15% of mothers in Germany are said to be affected by postpartum depression. The available studies, however, are mainly based on surveys, are older and vary widely in their results. This study brings another data source into play and asks how frequently diagnoses of mental illness are found in mothers after childbirth compared to childless women in the billing data of a large health insurance company.

Methods: A retrospective matched cohort study was conducted with health insurance data from 2017-2022, comparing mothers and childless women with the same age and the same medical and socioeconomic characteristics with regard to depression, exhaustion and burnout, and anxiety and stress disorder outcomes. The modelling was carried out using Poisson regression.

Results: Mothers were less likely than childless women to receive a diagnosis of a mental disorder within five years after childbirth. In the long run, however, the frequency of diagnoses equalised.

Discussion: Becoming a mother does not lead to more diagnoses of mental disorders compared to childless women, at least in the first five years after giving birth. However, the interpretation of the data is difficult. Possible influence of external factors on making the diagnosis is not seen in the data, such as the social expectation of a "happy mother" or a change in the utilisation of medical care due to maternity.